Improvement in barbs for wire fences



H. B. SCUTT. Barb for Wire-Fence.

No. 205,000; Patented June 18, 1878..

Fig.3

IN ENTQH:

N-EETERS. PHOTWUTHOGRAPHER, WASHXNGTON, D O- UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

HIRAM B. SGUTT, OF JOLIET, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN BARBS FOR W|RE FENCES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 205,000, dated June 18, 1878; application filed May 22, 1878.

. To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HIRAM B. SoUrT, of J oliet, in the county of Will and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Barbs for Wire Fences, of which improvements the following, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a side view of a wire provided with barbs embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a section in the plane of the line 00 m Fig. 3, a like representation in the plane of the line as a; Fig. 4, a top or plan View of several barb-blanks, indicating the cuts made in the metallic strips or bars from which the blanks are struck; and Fig. 5 shows a barb applied to a twisted wire.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts.

In the drawings, A A represent metallic barbs embodying my invention, and applied to a wire such as is usually employed in the construction of barbed-wire fences, the rails of which consist of single strands. I out these barbs from comparatively thin strips of sheet metal, equal in width to the greatest width of the blanks.

Two edges or portions, or a, of each blank are parallel to each other, and coincide or are identical with the longitudinal edges of the strips from which the blanks are cut, as indicated in Fig. 4. These edges a a are the outer edges of points or prongs a a, and the interior edges a a of these prongs diverge from each other and meet the outer edges a a at a considerable distance from the central part of the blank, thus forming sharp points on the ends of the prongs, included or formed by the edges a and a. The edges a and a" terminate near the central part of the blank, but do not there meet each other, as shown in Fig. 4. All the material between the edges to is cut away, thus leaving a widening space between these lines, and producing the cross line or edge ,e.

B is a tongue formed by means of the parallel cuts 6 6, extending toward, but not meeting, the line or edge 0. From the outer corners of the tongue B cuts 6 e extend to the longitudinal edges of the strip from which the blanks are cut. These cuts also extend toward the prongs a a, and diverge from each other to an extent which makes them parallel to the edges to a". The cuts 6 e are parallel to the'outer or longitudinal edges of the blank-strip, as well as to each other.

It will be perceived that the blanks may thus be out without any waste of material, and that each blank will be in all respects like any other thus produced from the same strip, thus utilizing all the material, and the parts thereof heretofore wasted are employed to retain the barbs in their places upon the wires, so that the prongs need not be bent for that purpose.

In order to apply the blank to a wire for the purpose set forth, I bend the tongue around the wire, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4,, and also bend the prongs so that they will extend in opposite directions, as shown. The barbs are thus very firmly attached to the wires,

and lateral as well as longitudinal movement is thus prevented.

The prongs are also bent with facility, for

the reason that they are bent in the direction of their faces. I

The tongues should extend entirely around the wire, and terminate between or a little beyond the bases of the prongs toward which the tongue is bent.

I am aware that, with the exception of the tongue B, barbs somewhat like those herein described have been heretofore made; but they have been applied to the Wire by bending the prongs ed gewise toward each other, so as to inclose the wire, and the part forming my tongue B has been wasted. I do not therefore here intend to claim such; but,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The four-pronged and ton gued barb A, one pair of prongs being formed on the same end by means of the parallel edges or a and the diverging cuts a" a, and the other pair by means of cuts 6 6, parallel to the cuts a a, and by means of the cuts e e, the latter also forming the tongue B, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

HIRAM B. SO UTT. Witnesses:

F. F. WARNER, CHAS. H. ScHoFF. 

